 $2,000 exemption on the university health system portion of your taxes. So that's neighborhood leadership And we're not done yet. My goal is to get the 65 senior property tax freeze on the university health system But I will tell you I push this every single year in commissioners court and we're getting progress We're not where we ought to be But we are investing in your health care at the university health system You've seen that investment in clinics and you've seen that investment in service and in your neighborhoods So we're we're proud. I truly believe that You know people create people power Create the policies that elected office holders implement You know because you're in the neighborhood five years before a politician does What the immediate needs are? Unfortunately sometimes Barocracies take five years just to get something done. They don't move as fast as commissioner Atkinson or myself would want them to but We do move them moving governments like moving a battleship. We just keep turning it in the right direction So we need your input. We need to know what you're feeling on the ground so we wanted to talk about and I want to thank University Health System because We got them to sponsor the lunches today So thank you very much for that You know, there are so many big issues that are going on in our neighborhoods If you're from an unincorporated neighborhood Just raise your hand if you live in unincorporated County, there's two of you three of you and four of you that I see, okay? One of the biggest things that we have been facing. I just want where's Carlos back there Carlos if we hand out our sheets, okay, so I Want to direct your attention. Let's talk taxes. Y'all want to talk taxes? Oh Lord, it's a hot issue and But I'm excited to Sizzle something up for you. All right So one of the things that you've been hearing the Lieutenant governor say on his Ads is those big bad cities and those big bad counties are raising your property taxes You've seen his ad he's in the brown jacket next to the truck looking tough That's all malarkey. Let me tell you what's going on I'm gonna let you read it for yourself. You see this this thing that says Texas Education Agency This sheet Carlos did everybody get that sheet? Everybody got this sheet. It's got yellow highlight on it. It's got a yellow highlight on it Okay, we'll get it to you if you don't have it. It's got this formula. It's got this formula. This is Senate bill one page 381 right or three they hit it way way deep So you would never find it, but we found So every commissioner because we are statutorily the county managers. It's different than the city council, right? Your city council has a city manager. Well, we are the statutory managers of Kennedy government So we have to undergo Education and we have to get training and all those kinds of things as commissioners So a guy named Jim Allison. He's worked in the Texas legislature for 45 years He is the general counsel for all the commissioners in the state of Texas He said kind of talks like Bill Clinton. He said he said I found this on page 381 of your tax bill so 381 I want you to go to the bottom of the page where it says right or three and it says funding school program funding Okay, and it reads property values and the estimates of local tax collections on which they are based Shall be increased by seven point oh four percent for tax year 2017 and by six point seven seven percent for tax year 2018 my friends that adds up to a combined total of thirteen point eight one percent appraisal increase Now do you know who wrote that into your this is the funding formula by which your schools Have to be funded. Okay They're saying that over two years You will have appraisals Mandatorily increased on the largest portion of your tax bill, which is the school districts the Texas legislature the Texas House and the Texas Senate wrote this into law Don't blame the school districts. It's not their fault It's the friends of ours up in Austin in the legislature who did this This is their writing and they hit it on page 381 so we wouldn't know about it anybody have a thirteen point eight one percent pay increase over last two years. I Didn't think so Yeah She said thanks for welcome to social security Nobody's paycheck is going up by thirteen point eight percent and the reason that people have been pulling out their appraisals and saying My goodness my appraisals are going up more than ever. I know I'm not the only one They've been go because in the previous two years. They wrote it should go up 12% and the previous two years another 12% and the previous two years 11% and the previous two years 10% and let me explain to you why How are your schools funded the only way Speaker Strauss said it so I don't want to make this a partisan issue Because I agreed with Speaker Joe Strauss Speaker Strauss said the only way for us to give the people of Texas meaningful tax relief is to fully fund the schools Why is that? because It used to be the Texas legislature Funded 45% of the school district's budget from the general fund of appropriations from the legislature The other 45% was covered by you through your property taxes 10% was covered by the Department of Education federal government Today the Texas legislature is only funding 38% of the school's Budget through the general fund of appropriations and they are Increasing your appraisals and making you pay for the rest. Are y'all walking with me on this? You do not have to take my word for it. You read it in black and white We brought the language to you We wanted to empower you with the language So do y'all remember there was a special session that happened two years ago They didn't finish all their business. Do you know why there was a special session? The reason was they disagreed on funding of the schools in your taxes Speaker Strauss, God bless him He said I'm not gonna put more appraisal increase on the people of Texas The lieutenant governor and the governor said We disagree We want to keep writing it on page 381 We want to pass it on to the people of Texas. Well, it was two against one and so the speaker lost and they won Are y'all walking with me on this and this is what became law So don't believe that there is these big bad cities and counties raising your taxes And if you just put a 2% cap on them, it'll solve all your problems That's a lie Because your county is what? 12% of your overall tax budget your city is 12% of your overall tax budget What is the largest portion of your property tax bill the schools? It's 51% On your biggest value that you own. It's the schools now. Don't vilify the schools. They don't run the legislature They don't create the funding formula They would change it if they could They can't do anything. Let's not make them the big bad enemy That's that's wrong in a time where it takes more education to have jobs and the information technology economy We ought to be funding our schools. We have too many school districts where Kids are dropping out of school We're not preparing them to compete with China and India where the technology jobs are going We need to have them funded well So here's the benefit of fully funding your schools. You get a two for one Not only do you get a better educated Texas, but you also get tax relief That sounds like a winning combination if you ask me, that's where we ought to be headed So I didn't I didn't come here to tell you I've you know done everything since sliced bread I wanted to empower you because this is one of the biggest hurdles. We have to keeping our homes People in my precinct. It's the epicenter of where high-property taxes are Happening and people are having to face the choice of whether they can stay I don't think that's right people endure through crime people endure through blight and then they got to move out that in right so I actually have a video online on YouTube because I knew Senator Bettencourt of Harris County would lie about what I said So I had a video crew come out and I testified on a policy solution. Okay, and here's what I said What you all know is that in a lot of these areas you're seeing 20% and praise will increase now There is a cap at 10% but you see it anyway. You see it's a 20 25% sometimes 50 sometimes 100% over two years It's pretty unbelievable, right so I'm one of these dorks who has a international relations economics background, right? So I read things in a different way than most elected officials and so if you understand something called hyperinflation ever heard of hyperinflation hyperinflation by definition is 50% inflation of a cost increase of a cost over a six month period So what you all are seeing in your appraisals in areas like Tobin Hill and Dignity Hill and government Hill and King William and other areas and it happens in the Dominion too it happens all over it This is applies to everybody is You're seeing a quarter of hyperinflation about 20 to 25 percent appraisal increase over the course of a year That is not economically sustainable Eventually as the investments die down in the next 10 to 15 years The values of the homes will equal out again, and they'll come back into what we call market equilibrium So you have to give people help today To ride over the over exuberance in the market. Are you all walking with me on this? So what I said is Why don't you let local taxing entities? Let us carve out these areas because it's not every area But where we see these quarter of a hyper hyperinflation Let us carve those areas out of special taxing areas and You know let's have miss Eckert's taxes index to Inflation which is one to four percent That way she doesn't feel priced out of her home. She can kind of plan for that That's better than having the appraisal crease by 20 and 25 or 10 and and bumping and bumping and bumping up We just can't afford to continue to do that If we did that where we could kind of plan a percent to four percent per year that makes it much more manageable It's not Socialistic and that it doesn't Carve out the free market system the free market system must still exist in price prices do inflate prices do increase over time But prices do not increase over time as much as the Texas legislature wrote on page 381 Are you all walking with me on this? so my idea Requires a state constitutional amendment because there's a clause in this Texas Constitution which calls for fair and equal taxation amongst all people But as long as the legislature is doing shenanigans like this We know there isn't fair and equal taxation across every neighborhood And so this is one solution out of many that we're proposing on your behalf But it takes people power it takes you to be empowered It takes you to understand this it takes you to raise this at the town halls when the lieutenant governor and the governor come into town You've got to raise this We ought to have people when the governor comes into town We ought to have people with signs stop raising my taxes 13.81 percent my appraisal is 13.81 percent You need to hold them high And actually I did send some people to do that Right around the time that we were having this debate over the special session between speaker Strauss and lieutenant governor And do you know because people did that? within a week the governor did add the issue of These appraisals to the reasons to have a special session It wasn't there before He knew These guys know what they're doing It's important that we raise this as an issue It's not economically good over the long term and it's not economically sustainable. Okay So raise these issues in those forums With your elected officials But it's time to stop passing the buck and saying it's those cities and county There's actually you know most of the county commissioners in the state of texas and most of the county judges They're actually republicans. I'm a democrat But I can tell you that the The republicans are absolutely tired Of their colleagues in the legislature lying about cities and counties being the cause of your tax pay And it's like a civil war going on. I'm watching you as a commissioner. I'm seeing The county judge of terrick county republican. He's got a speaking tour just like I am He's saying these are the facts. This is real. You read it for yourself So this is not this is not about me picking on anybody One thing that you have known about my life and my career is I will tell you the truth And if the truth hurts it is what it is But this is where the truth is You don't have to take my word for it. Go home research it yourself. I've given you a few cliff notes So you can get started need our electorate to be as educated about our politics as we are about our football in texas If we did we'd have a much better state We got to follow what's going on Follow the money so anyway This group is a kind of group that can change this Inside you've got a card a big red and blue card Outlining some other policies you can send those to your legislature You just put it in the mail and say we want you to do meaningful tax reform We want you to do something. It's this it's this piece right here. This piece right here Okay, if you didn't get that raise your hand and carlos with carlos We have to order some more. Okay. I got them. I got them in the office So we'll work with commissioner akins in the bow and center to get these to everybody In your neighborhood groups And if you want me to come out there and explain it, I can do it an even shorter time I just got so excited to see all my friends. I've been on and on and on I apologize Let me give you a victory report A victory report that you deserve the credit for the people of bear county For ever since I got on to commissioners court. I have noticed that home ownership has been dropping The the people that have homes has been dropping we were like at 62 percent in 2005 And um as of last year we dropped down to 51 percent or this year we dropped down to 51 percent home ownership Now as you know the renters don't keep up the homes as well as the owners There's all kinds of secondary effects when you don't have home ownership There is the fact that people get into what you call rent bondage, right? The rent they pay is more expensive than a mortgage they would pay As a result people are selling drugs to make ends meet A lot of bad things are happening in secondary ways families tell their kids don't save up for college Or don't go to college because we can't afford it because our rent's too high Okay We're we're facing a perfect storm I have warned this community kind of like my father warned mericius narrows many many decades ago They came in the 80s to the city council and he warned The mayor at that time that we have a gang problem And everybody stuck their head in the sand And ignored it and then we became the drive-by capital of the united states y'all remember that in the 90s Yeah, it's my father who warned us about that I am warning you that the prosperity that san antonio has enjoyed Is in peril when we start to slip into the 40 and 38 because we're headed towards a trajectory remember we've lost Uh about 11 percentage points In home ownership in 15 years So we do that again We're headed to about 40 percent owners And 60 percent renters And that changes the american dream that changes the building of wealth that changes many many things If you can't get into your starter home You can't get into the second home and the third home and make improvements and build wealth in your family So the underbelly of our economy is soft Yes, we have the most growth of an american city But it's unsustainable if we don't do something about our chronic under education We have to we have to be ready to get the jobs of the future. So The victory that you deserve credit for is that because We had people from tier one and and cops metro alliance and neighborhoods first alliance and many many different organizations All of us are none justice groups all kinds of groups came by The commissioners court for the first time said that we will hire a consultant to help us deal with the affordable housing crisis because we don't have a We don't have enough internal knowledge to deal with this issue We're 30 years behind most major counties and cities in the united states With respect to dealing with this we need to be partnering with the city We need to be talking with the mayor's task force That's something i'm very much for We already have cities way ahead of us You know, there's a big article in los angeles times talked about what happened when the city and the county and los angeles did not talk to each other On housing how they could have been more synergistic So we've got to start working together and leveraging dollars. I represent people in the city Most of my voters are in the city. So i'm looking out for that but that issue Of housing and how we take money To reinvest in blighted properties in your neighborhood is critical to the integrity of most of the neighborhoods in this room It's absolutely critical. You know, you have homes that are blighted that could use a shot in the arm You know, you need to help put ownership. I hear it. I go to neighborhood meetings. I'm here I'm the only commissioner here for a reason I'm on the ground I'm in the neighborhoods you all say To me that You know, we're seeing transitions in the neighborhood. We're seeing people not take care of things as well They're not participating. You know when you don't have a sense of ownership. It also affects how you vote If you don't feel invested In your neighborhood, you have a lower chance of voting We already have a bad enough voter turnout as it is. We need more people voting not less so We're going to move forward I don't think the county will be ready to really invest dollars Until about 2020 some people want to build minor league baseball stadiums and waste all kind of money Some politicians don't have their priorities straight About where our crisis are But I will continue to be a voice. They will persecute me. They will ignore me They will bash me because I don't go along to get along But as long as I know you have my back Because you know, I'm fighting for the issues that are bread and butter that matter to neighborhoods and families We're going to be all right so Commissioner Is there well, I'll open it up for questions. I don't know if there's anything said that we have questions here Let's go for it. Jim. Whoever wants to start Hi This morning We had a representative from Put it a little closer to the mic if you Property protest and the appraisals and mike amos kita and his solution was that That we should really encourage the People here to get state funding that is The gap that is causing this big crisis in other words that that that 50 50 that you know 45 45 that you were talking state funding for education. Yeah for for education We're on the same page and he said that That would just wipe it out in the minute. Yes, ma'am. That's what i'm telling you what i'm wondering is if we start trying to Split what we're asking for It it might make neither one A good enough measure. I think that what you were for For suggesting I don't see that that would be as dramatic So for example, we're actually saying the same thing. So the chief appraiser and I are saying the same thing So I started my conversation And maybe I wasn't clear But I started my conversation saying that the way to get meaningful property tax relief Is to fully fund the schools you get a two for one you get better educated schools and you get property tax relief So we are we I'm saying the same thing. I was just saying that another policy That could be used to help deal with these hyper-inflating Areas because it doesn't apply to if not every area has hyper inflation of value some of them are In line with inflation, but those that are out of line with inflation These are the kinds of things that we could do. So I'm actually proposing two Two levels of protection for taxpayers, which is district five With saisg that the main problem is that they're losing students. They're they're not getting funding People are moving away and so If there's the the gap, I'm sure it's going to be even bigger where we well, you're absolutely right The gap will be bigger. That's why I believe in reinvesting in the older neighborhoods in district five and other places Home that is 20 years or older ought to be eligible for funds to reinvest and modernize and make sure that we don't have failing foundations and failing roofs and things of that nature That that that younger families will want to move into those Older neighborhoods and bring those communities back to life The most affordable home that we have is the one that we live in today And if we can afford to stay in the home that we have today Then that will bring new life back to these neighborhoods where people have fled Tell me I don't mean to uh to close this down But it is time for folks to move to the afternoon session. Okay. Do you have a few minutes to spend with these? Sure. I'll come and answer questions. Thank you for allowing me to come and talk to you. Appreciate Some new door prize numbers Okay, so Um, this is charlotte and lucas with now cast essay and i'm here with veronica soto Who is with the city of san antonio's department of neighborhood and housing services And in a few minutes, she's going to be leading a breakout workshop session on civic engagement So you seem to be the entire Perfect person to tell me what's going on here. Why it's important and what it has to do with civic engagement. Sure Um, so this conference and this event is one that brings neighborhoods together So that they can be the ones that are the best advocates for their neighborhood and civic engagement means that they are aware of the issues in the neighborhood They're aware of the issues in the city and they're aware how they can make an impact to make a positive contribution To both city policy city budget and how that can assist and help the neighborhood The topic of civic engagement is about making sure the neighborhood voice is heard And that's what i'll be addressing. I'll also talk about how citizens can be involved in providing feedback And get information from the city. So civic engagement is about being informed It's about making sure that if there is a concern it is voiced and it is about knowing how to connect to resources So Yeah, that was terrific. So so civic engagement Is also about democracy it is So civic engagement is about that voice from the community. And so it is about how We can share our opinions. We know we may not always agree But building that consensus making sure the voice is heard is a big part of the civic engagement and the democracy process And so this is part of why today is important. This is part of the recent a lot of the folks are here They have issues. They have concerns. They want to make sure their voice is part of this Democratic process and so that's part of the recent. I think many of the folk the Part of the recent many of the folks are here today And and when people feel like their voice their their voice matters, right? Their ideas matter It makes a difference in terms of also whether they come out to vote Oh, yes, um, it makes a difference when people come out to vote It makes a difference on the kind of things they support It makes a difference about how they feel about the community. And so having the the voice heard It's a big deal when it comes to having trust in your government When it comes to voting when it comes to feeling like the community is working with you And so that's that's a big part of what today is and why this session is going to be important Now now in neighborhood services You also deal with some of the big issues that we've heard here today One of the one of the things that I heard people talking about was affordability housing affordability One of the things I heard people talking about was displacement And you're in a position to actually do something about that. Yes So the department is new. It was created this fiscal year. Our name is neighborhood and housing services So as a department, we are supposed to address in our addressing the issues related to housing And so what we have found is that we have many housing problems that are not easy to solve But there are solutions and so we have been working with a lot of folks to address those issues Everyone from the housing commission to the mayor's housing policy task force And so there'll be a series of recommendations that will take additional steps to implement But the fact that we're talking about it and finding common ground for many of these issues Is a positive first step. So the issues that the folks here have talked about the issues that have Maybe kept them up at night are ones that are being deliberated very thoughtfully And ones where we'll have a recommendation. Maybe not everyone will agree But it will be a proposed solution to those kind of issues And and part of what you're in a position to do is not just Listen to people who are elected to office and not just listen to people who are appointed to office But actually listen to people who are tenants and who are who are homeowners and who are facing those situations, right? Yes So our department takes our neighborhood engagement quite seriously It's part of the reason the word neighborhood is the first one in our department name We have a whole division focused on that and so part of my role here is asking people to make sure We have the right contact for the neighborhood associations because we have a registry for that We use that list at the city not just in our department But multiple departments as a point of contact to let people know what the city is doing in those neighborhoods And so it's very important that we have that information and that ability to share So that when there's policy issues that are going to impact the neighborhood When those issues are about to be deliberated Those folks are aware and they can be part of that process Because being part of that process sharing their voices and concern Is a big part of how we make the policy better We might have a good idea But the public input the neighborhood having a voice may make it a better idea. And so that's why we're here That's why we urge people to register with our Program through the neighborhood association. That's why we're soliciting feedback now To see how we can make our registration process better And also asking what are the other tools we need to make our neighborhood engagement even better What's the registration process? So the registration process it has to be a neighborhood association. We ask for points of contacts We ask us for the bylaws we ask for the boundary And so we put that in a map and the map is used by multiple departments that can access if they have a project in that area If there's a zoning case in that area, that's who the official contact is There's issues with overlapping boundaries. There's issues with how often we have to ask folks to update the information So we're refining how we do that so that we can continually serve our community in a better way Well, right. I think we heard earlier today that One of your colleagues from the city saying that there are somewhere upwards of 250 neighborhood associations Maybe as many as 300 any any idea what the real number is 344, but it changes. I'm sure that after today There'll be a few more So we have 344 Registered neighborhood associations in this city and that's just neighborhood associations that not homeowners associations both Oh, it is both because what we register are the voluntary associations as well as the homeowner association So it's a combination of both. Okay 344 Wow And and what I know is that the neighborhood Plans that are up on the city's website. I counted 55 of them now a couple of those are updates But that is that is a small fraction of all of them Yes And those neighborhood plans are done by our colleagues in the planning department And so there's a lot of conversation and overlap in our work There's a lot of engagement that alofas work together on and so Many neighborhoods do have plans, but many others do not I looked at some of those plans and The one on the west side for instance it covers a couple of different neighborhoods But it was planned is bilingual It was put together my more than 200 people and it took them somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 or 16 months to do it Completely so I mean it was it was not just a couple of folks sitting around the table It's a big deal. We take citizen feedback seriously We always get criticized for not doing enough for not doing it right But it goes with our work and and it's important to go and you know Sometimes be praised and sometimes be criticized about how we're seeking feedback And that's okay because hearing both the praise and the criticism only helps us as city staff do our job better Well, I'd like to say when it comes to my website Only my friends tell me when it's broken the rest of them just walk away So I mean it's it's the it's the people who care who are telling you where it's broken Yes, well I neighborhoods do care then we're hearing a lot And so it's good to hear though. It's great to get this feedback It's great to figure out how we can help other associations in a better way And it's great to see that people are plugged in and engaged in this manner There has been um lately Well, I guess it's not just just lately, but I've noticed lately a couple of neighborhood associations where leadership changed kind of radically And and there were sort of up endings what what kinds of things Do you guys go through or or who goes through them? Is it the city council representative who says okay? This this new leadership is is something that we're recognizing Well, that's one of the issues that hopefully through the survey we can figure out But there's several associations that have had that kind of issue So one of the things that we want to do is offer best practices so that associations themselves Can sort through that and so part of having best practices is having clear bylaws that state how you do a change over What the responsibilities are and so our job is just to provide the best practice Best bylaws and say look these bylaws work really well and then provide the training for the neighborhood leaders When you're about to transition, this is how you prepare your association These are the kind of things that you should be doing And so those kind of things are the ones that our department is looking to add to our toolkit So that we can offer that toolkit because we don't want to be the ones that any association comes and runs to every time There's an issue we want the associations to Have the tools and solve the issue themselves It should not be coming to the city to resolve it to mediate to figure it out for them It should be associations having a strong enough set of tools that they can do it themselves And so our job is to just get the tools and put them in the right hands And and that's a that's a process right now that that is not something that already exists right no that Well, that's one of the things that we're seeking to have And some associations are very good about that Some need a little bit of help and so our job is to figure out who needs that little bit of help And create those tools and put them in the hands of the people that will use them and make it better So say somebody is um Has moved into the city fairly recently or is in a neighborhood and they don't know How did they find out what their neighborhood association or homeowner well neighborhood homeowners? They probably know because they bought the house. How did they find out where their neighborhood association? Well, if you go to our website to san antonio.gov and you go through neighborhood and housing services department We have a tab devoted to neighborhoods and you will find a map of all the neighborhood associations there So that's the best way to find if you're in a neighborhood association And you guys try really hard But I acknowledge that you're not entirely perfect on that map So it may it may need updating and and if they find something broken to let you know Yes, and that's part of the reason we're here as well We have our contact list and we're verifying with the folks present that we have the correct information It's a constant every day keep tending to it Uh, and so the maps should be pretty good, but we may not have exactly the right contact person But we do have the maps available so people can figure it out And we're working to make those maps even better and more interactive But that's that's yet to come I was going to say I think um Google had that figured out for a while, but it's a kind of a tough thing on the city's website It is it is so we continue to work on how we can make that information at your fingertip Available and make it better It does take us a little while and then when changes happen We have to figure out how do we update that change and not delay access to the information Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate your taking the time. Thank you You